Affordable Homes Rise From Ashes In Lawndale

September 13, 1996|By Dennis O'Brien, Tribune Staff Writer.

With praise to the Lord and Mayor Richard M. Daley, community leaders along with those from the public and private sector officially reopened a North Lawndale mixed-income apartment complex Thursday, marking the end of its $3.65 million renovation.

"I'd like to thank God, Mayor Daley, (Housing Department) Commissioner (Marina) Carrott and Alderman (Michael) Chandler (24th) for making the Lazarus apartment community a reality," said Mady Carter, who had been the first resident to move into the Lazarus Apartments late last year.

"In the future, I imagine Lawndale will be a place where our sons and daughters and grandchildren will establish their own businesses, build their homes and develop new schools and make this a community where anybody is everybody," Carter said.

The project was part of the mayor's plan, announced in January 1994, to spend $750 million to create nearly 18,000 affordable new housing units and rehabilitate close to 29,000 additional units by the end of 1998.

So far, the Department of Housing says it has overseen the creation of 10,600 units and the rehabilitation of 17,400. By June 30, $375 million had been spent, department officials said.

A sense of accomplishment and hope for the future pervaded the ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of the apartments in the 3900 block of West 19th Street.

The 48-unit complex seems a perfect example of what can come from community partnerships with the public and private sectors.

For the $5,000 in legal costs of the transaction, the Department of Housing in 1993 gave the two buildings to the neighborhood-based Lawndale Christian Development Corp.

It was part of a program under which the city acquires tax-delinquent properties from the county and makes them available to community development corporations, individuals and non-profit groups.

In this case, the development corporation was also given a $1,430,500 loan at zero percent interest and a tax credit, according to housing department spokeswoman Becky Carroll.

The LaSalle Bank also made an additional loan of $515,000 available, and the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources granted the project nearly $100,000, according to the housing department.

An architect and a contractor were hired and homes began to replace buildings that had stood as burned-out hulls since a fire in 1976 and were inhabited only by drug dealers. The work was carried out by local subcontractors, according to Jay Gaultier, director of development for the Lawndale Christian Development Corp.

The first building was finished in December 1995, and the second was ready in April.

Rents for the complex's 24 two-bedroom apartments range from $218 to $425 per month, depending on the income of the tenants; 21 three-bedroom apartments rent for $228 to $550 a month; and there are three one-bedroom units, all handicapped accessible, that rent for $175 to $375 per month.

Hiram Moss, 27, a security guard who moved into a two-bedroom apartment at the complex with his wife and son, said, "This is very affordable. It's got a suburban feel to it. The area's a little rough but the apartments are nice. As a community I hope it can get bigger and better."